Reviews for Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres Collector's Edition

Rebeca_Lily wrote:

gingergal wrote:

BUT, what hasn't been said (I don't think?) is there is an interactive map, that becomes available a bit later. A transporter map! There are different places you can go to. But when it takes you to to one place, it is set in different time periods. So you can only accomplish different things, in different time periods. That part was good.

Yes, there is - you can "jump" from year to another year only to check if there is any activity there, jump to another year, in a linked room and finish the activity.
For instance: if you find oil in some year, you can use it in different year and accomplish the activity. Very comfortable movement.

Sorry I wasn't clear! Yes that's what I like about, as you find out when you jump place to place if it's the right time or not, to find out if you can do certain things then and there. Sorry it was hard for me to explain what I meant, nothing new.

I really enjoyed this game. Kudos and devs. Well worth the price, the only peeve I have is was I thought extra game play was too short compared to rest of game. Look forward to more.

Add me to the list of the unimpressed. The gameplay is OK, and I have no objections to the plot, despite getting a little tired of the time traveling family motif. And yes, the voiceovers are fine too, although I don't pay as much attention to that sort of thing as other people do. Definitely on the plus side is the interactive time map/teleporter.

But what I dislike is the artwork. It's washed out and blurry, as others have noted. I am not sure if the artists were trying to go for impressionism or for a watercolor look, but in any case, it doesn't work.

One of the more interactive games we've seen in a while. The time travel allows you to jump all over the place. What is not accompolished in one time period may be done in another. This game is a little tough in some places, just keep traveling and hunting around. Some of the HOS were a bit grueling and there is the option to switch over to a match 3 game; you can go back and forth with this feature. One thing for sure a lot of work went into this game. The graphics are okay but dreary, music is tense, the story is done well and appears to be of good length. I did not however, care for the voiceovers, I thought them to be mediocre at best. 4 out of 5

I Beta tested this game and glad it finally was released. Enjoyed the storyline and graphics were great. Liked that you could either do the HOG or Match 3. I can't remember how far I got in the game as I didn't have the stratedy guide to help me. It sure is a help in this game. Will be a buy for me and think a lot of fishes will really love the game.. Give it a 10 out of 10..

Played the demo and liked it it is the best we have seen so far. I like the story and time travel going to buy . It is well worth theCE price IMO.I hope it has a good ending.

Rachieroos wrote:And I HATE the "sonar" thing which shows you the silhouettes only. I want a HINT button with my H0s please! (Don't know if this is different in casual mode? I played on advanced/expert mode).

There is definitely a HINT button as well (at least in casual mode). It`s on the other side (at the left) from the Sonar, which I love. I like being able to see an object in silhouette, rather than using a hint, and finding the object this way.

TexasAnn wrote:This was an awesome game. I was a little leery because of the appearance of the hog scenes (which were a little monochromatic for me), but that was the only issue I had. It was a lot of fun to play.

I didn't think the HOS were monochromatic at all. In fact, I thought the hidden object scenes were colourful and clearly defined.

U know, I can't recall which game I played recently but it had animals such as spiders jump out at u. But this game also had a couple things like that. Maybe I'm the only one who noticed it. Or maybe I'm just plain old jumpy. LOL.

I agree about most aspects of the game. but with hints so abundant and detailed I didn't need the Strategy Guide at all. I'll wait for the other edition to come out. We have gotten so many CE's lately this one can wait. The hint button doesn't have to recharge, you can also see the outline of the items you are looking for and I was stuck in one place and hit the hint button and it showed me what I needed out of inventory and then where I needed to use the item.

Well all I can say is this is more like it. A CE worth every pennies. I can understand that few may find it a bit confusing. However as I love games with time travel, I found this particular game to be uniquely challenging. The HOS are not so easy as they are a bit junk pile but I did love the option of either playing the mini-game just for fun, and/or using the sonar. The music is tedious and got on my nerves after a while but I did appreciate the voice-overs which is what a CE game should have. I recommend that players who are new to this genre should avoid expert mode. The map does not give you any indication of where to go or what to do. The green exclamation marks on the map show up on casual mode. I did have to refer to the strategy guide which b the way is easy to access and always opens up to where you are in the game. Had to admit, I got tired of running around and peaked at the guide while playing expert mode.

The game is long and I have played fwell over three hours and only half way through. The graphics are not crisp but I enjoyed the art work. Over all I am delighted at this game and it is a breath of fresh air after so many dissapointing CEs. Thank you BFG and thank you to the developers. Happy gaming to all.

Playing the demo led me to believe there were more puzzles and less hidden object scenes so I bought it. Very disappointed. One hidden object scene after the other and they were all the "junk pile" type. Thank goodness I played on casual mode and the hint button charges really fast, otherwise I don't think I could have tolerated it long enough to finish the game.

Bonniesan wrote:Playing the demo led me to believe there were more puzzles and less hidden object scenes so I bought it. Very disappointed. One hidden object scene after the other and they were all the "junk pile" type. Thank goodness I played on casual mode and the hint button charges really fast, otherwise I don't think I could have tolerated it long enough to finish the game.

Thank you for this review!!! I very much appreciate folks who talk about the number of H0G scenes and the type. I cannot bear one H0G junk pile after another, so I will not even bother to try the game.

Thanks!!!

campfire29 wrote:Finally!! Adventure /hog game where you actually have the option of not playing the the HOG scene .Yes, it behooves me as to why someone would play this sort of game and then complain about to many HOG scenes but, people really do ( I like them) it is kind of like WHY are you playing this sort of game?? Oh well nice to see, great game ,but if I have to deal w/one more locked door.....lol

Under the game description page this is classed as a HOPA (hidden object, puzzle adventure). Not just a hidden object game.

And if you look under the adventure category this game is listed there as well.

Everyone likes a different ratio of those 3 things in these games. Some like more puzzle but little hidden object, others more hidden object and so on.

So some feel this game is 'heavy' on the hidden object hence the comment 'one after the other' and would like to see more puzzles/and or adventure. It's not that they necessarily don't like hidden objects or didn't know that this game would have it.

I like comments from people on what they think the game is 'heavy' on as it helps me to make up my own mind if it's my type of game or not.

I'm on the fence about this game. I like it but I don't LOVE it. Maybe it's just too hard for me even though I am playing in casual mode. I feel like I'm going everywhere but accomplishing very little. I think I'll have to think about this game a bit more.

tuttepeever wrote:Beautiful graphics but too much handholding in the game. Without the hint system, which doesn't need any time to recharge,( a huge bonus) I would have been lost. The hint system is so good that one doesn't need a strategy guide.

Now that I am almost finished I am sad to say that I didn't enjoy this game at all. There was no challenge since either the SG or the always available Hint was a necessity. Far too much walking to and fro and that seems to be the current trend with the CE's. Not doubt in order to make the game seem longer. Sort of like inserting a much larger carboard roll into the toilet paper to make it seem like you get more.

I am becoming very ticked off with all this back and forth. Doesn't make for a good game to me.

I am not using hints or the SG for this game and I am finding it plenty challenging at times. If you play on difficult mode and avoid the SG and hints (I haven't used any) then this game is very engaging and makes you think. I really like it! Also, I think the H0 scenes are great. I still very much enjoy the H0 part of these IHOGs though. Great job devs! Wonderful game.

This really is a beautifully crafted game, and after reading the earlier reviews I was very tempted to buy it outright. But I decided to play the demo anyway, and I think I'll wait for the SE.

Why? Because I'm not paying a tenner to listen to that womans voice! Yessus .. is she irritating or what??

I wish the devs would realise that not all we Brits talk like the Queen! (God Bless 'er).
Jo

All I can say is WOW! What a great game. In every respect you all went over the top..I'm only sad to finish it but am awaiting eagerly the next part.

oh..I love the little touches..like looking out the window and seening quite a few people wander by...clever touches that makes this the best game I seen all year
kris

i have windows vista. no problems whatsoever. thank you BF. buy,buy,buy. still playing game. almost like beauty and beast game. which i loved replaying.

Wow, this is the best game I've played in a long time. The demo hour went by really fast. The graphics and music were great along with the gameplay , which was very different. The ****'s with a concept of a choice to play a mini game instead was different also. I did both to see which was easier/faster. The storyline was different as well . It was a totally fresh new type of a game which I thoroughly enjoyed . I would rate this a 10 out of 10.